(new) kinda Sbc won't fire

[86judge]

I was mentioning the grounds when we were discussing the hard cranking situation.
I know you said you were going to do a tune up. If you haven't already I sugggest changing the oil sitting that long you will be suprized at how much water can be in the pan from condensation. I've seen a couple three cups come out before. Id emty the fuel tank and make sure there is a fuel filter in the line. I usually undo the gas line right before the mechanical pump put a catch can there then I go to the back with a rag and a air hose. Use the rag to help seal the blow nosel at the fill neck(right where you put the gas in) and pressurize the tank and force the old gas out. If I'm n a hurry I'll run a new rubber hose from the inlet of the pump to five gallon gas can. Just so i know I have good gas to get it started. Just get a long hose you don't want to put it n the engine bay where it can catch fire

 

[cutthroatxxx]

Thanks for all of the help,I just went back out & pulled multiple plugs to make sure I wasn't getting spark.The thing is its sitting outside I do paint & homework from my home shop & I have two bikes & a 6 month rest I'm finishing up & a viper I'm on & 2 other trucks.I'm super far behind &now I'm paying fora 3rd funeral in 6'months so money is tight.I'm thinking Ill buy a dizzy off of ebay & grab some plugs & wires.Now that I think about it this cap &motor has been on here for sometime it was on the old motor that had a blower .I completely forgot about that till I looked @ pictures of old .motor so I'm sure it's due.I'm willing to bet the connections to the starter are pretty nasty I just killed a brand new battery trying to crank it.
As soon as I get some work..actually these jobs I have here out Ill be going into a full rest on this..just not a frame off.So I wanna get it to fire the trans needs replaced some homework&the tach &such hooked back up I'm hoping I can even find all of the ax stuff to put back on.
The lack of spark isn't what scares me the slow cranking is what scares me .

 

[86judge]

Well I hope you can carve out some time for your car. Its sounds like it has set long enough. Boy have I been there. I total understand why the slow cranking concerns you. There few different reasons that could cause that, and without guessing at all of them I'll sugest how I would approach it. Because you definatly don't want to keep cranking on it without it starting. The first thing I would do id pull out all of the spark plugs and puts some lubricant in the cylinderes. My grandpa always used trans fluid. Or I heard there's stuff you can buy for motors that are siesed. (I know yours is not siezed but the rings could of stuck to the pistions or rusted a ring in the cylinder) I think it was called aluma-ez. I would at least spray some wd40 in them. After that I would treat it like a brand new engine build. It sounds like you are going to pull the distributor out. I would rent or borrow a priming tool, and prime the oiling system. Pull the valve cover and watch till you get oil out of all the pusrods. Go thru the carb and clean out the fuel tank and lines also replace all ruber lines. You don't want a fuel leak.
I know you asked in a previous post how to set your dizzzy in time. If you trust where your dizzy is curently set you can bring it up on #1 tdc, pull the cap to reference the rotor button location and where the distributot body is index to(I would use the vaccume advance for reference), then you can drop the new one n the same location. If not bring it up on #1 then back the motor up till the timing pointer is pointing at 8 degrees before tdc on the balancer. Then drop the dizzy in so the rotor button is pointing at the terminal you put the #1 plug wire on. Start it n a little bit counter clockwise cause it will rotate as you install it. If it dosent set all the way down. Have some one hold down on the rotor button and crank the motor so it will drop in the oil pump rod. Make sure when you crank it that you don't rotate the distributor body during or after cause you will b changing the timing. That will give you the easiest place for your motor to start. After it starts pour all the timing it will take. Your high on compression so becareful. If you can set timing by ear you will hear what it likes. Just bring the rpm up around three grand so the advance is all the way in rotate clockwise till it runs rough and bring it back till it smooths out. Wow I'm long winded. Lol

 

[cutthroatxxx]

Thanks 86..I've never used a priming tool,now I'm thinking shouldnt the dizzy have a ground ?I know there on the side of the dizzy where the ign wire goes there's nothing plugged into the tach spot but I coulda swore that I had something plugged inthehre before but my tach is unplugged so idk I found a green wire that's only about 8 inches long coming out of the firewall next to the ignition wire but couldn't reach nothing it appears .I've cleaned up all of the grounds I think I'm missing one maybe.
I have no idea how to check the pick up coil the battery as I said gets drained in about 6 cranks .Now its done that since it was running ,is that common with mini high torque starters?Also my dizzy didn't have a vacuum port that's common on hei correct?Also the p.o. has tons of orginal wiring taped up he had tucked in a fender that all seems to have juice going through em.
I plan on throwing some cash into this thing I have some bodywork & paint jobs I need to finish to get paid to have some money to fix it right

 

[woody31]

ok i read this thread ,,you stated your - battery cable to the core suppoert,,did i read that right
anyways,,,run a ground cable from the battery to the motor,,run a ground strap,,,or another ground cable from the motor to the frame,,and last run a ground wire(large in diameter)) from the firewall to the back of the motor,,put in a hot battery and see what you have then,,as for the dizzy cap,,i have seen lots worse on running motors,,i dont think the cap or plugs is the issue,,,,good luck..

 

[86judge]

Sorry I haven't answered. I've been really busy. As far as the dizzy plug ins. Don't worry about the tach. Its not gonna hurt anything. If you flip the cap over you will c the metal prongs, but the inside prong are all plugged in with one plug in, coming from the body of the dizzy to cap only leaving tach and bat terminals just make sure you have a 12 volt ignition source to the bat terminal. As far as the vacuum advance port. I'm going to assume there is a curve kit installed in which case most people unhook the vacuum advance.(and I'm not going to get into that debate right now. ) Just make sure the advance is moving freely. Just snap the rotor button with your fingeres to make sure it is rotating. you should b able to rotate it about an inch, and it should spring all the way back. If its rusted forward or dosent have enough spring tension to, return your inital timing will be high causing it to crank hard.
As far as the grounds. I agree with the previous post about the grounds. Especially moving the main battery ground to the block.
The cluster of wires your refering to were probaby stuffed in the passanger side fender. I know thats where my dad stuffed mine on my 84 cutlass I had in high school. Lol. Boy some people just don't want to mess with wiring. Lol. If you remove the computer out from behind the kick panel on the passanger side. It will take most of the wires out. Just take your time tracing the wires back so you don't cut anything you want to keep, but its never good practice to leave hot wires that are not plugged in. So at least trace any hot wires.
I don't know how long your six cranks are, but no matter what starter. I don't think it should run dead that quick. Even though any starter drops a lot of juice to operate. As far as testing the pick up or coil. I've always had spare parts and just switched them. I don't know how to bench test them.
These are all suggestions because without bieng there I don't know if the slow cranking is electrical or mechanical.
Just a side note a fully charged battery is 12.6. And how many cold cranking amps is your battery. You may not have enough with the compression of your motor.
The priming tool I typed about previously. Just drops in where your dizzy goes and turns with a drill.
Hope I helped